Diagnosis and treatment of ocular rosacea

Eighteen patients with ocular rosacea were treated with oral tetracycline which resulted in marked improvement in all patients. Approximately one half of the patients were able to taper and stop the medication without recurrence of symptoms. The remaining have tapered their medication but could not stop without recurrence of symptoms. The majority of the patients in the series had Staphylococcus aureus on their conjunctiva and lids before and after surgery.